La Salle Odyssey Introduction Transcript

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Imagine strolling around
the city of Saint Antoine in Texas and
hearing French spoken at every turn. Stopping by the city's most famous site –
Le Alameaux. Or exploring La Jacinthe Battlefield, where Texans won their
independence from France. Think about what the Lone Star State would be
like today if the prevailing cultural influences were French rather than
Spanish.

It just might have happened
that way.

In 1684, famed French
explorer Robert Cavalier brought a proposal to King Louis the Fourteenth of
France. The arrogant and ambitious Sieur de La Salle had visited North America
on several occasions, eventually paddling down the Mississippi and becoming the
first European to discover that it empties into the Gulf. And now, he wanted to
build a colony at the mouth of the great river and expand French power in the
New World.

Hungry for control of North
America, King Louis agreed, giving La Salle four ships, a small army of
soldiers, and 200 settlers. La Salle set sail in 1684, full of hope and
enthusiasm, ready to conquer the New World for the glory of France. And
himself.

Instead, disaster met his
every turn. He fought with his navigator, lost a ship to privateers, and sailed
past the Mississippi. Thinking he was still east
of the river, La Salle kept pushing westward, eventually anchoring in
Matagorda Bay in what is now Texas. The ship carrying most of the supplies for
the colony, L'Aimable, ran aground upon entering the bay and later sank.
La Salle’s remaining ship, La Belle,
likewise, went to the bottom in a storm. Hostilities broke out with the native
Karankawa. And La Salle himself was murdered by his own men.

Even in defeat, however, La
Salle made his mark. When the Spanish heard about a French colony, they sent
eleven expeditions in search of it, ready to wipe it out. This was their New World. The Spaniards responded
to the French incursion by expanding their
presence in Texas, shaping it into the land we know today.

And for more than a century
historians searched for La Belle. It
had to be in the shallow bay somewhere, but no one had ever been able to locate
it. In 1995, archeologists from the Texas Historical Commission discovered a
French cannon lying beneath Matagorda Bay, and they knew they had found it at
last.

What they didn't know, was
just how important that discovery would turn out to be for the state of Texas.

A massive excavation ensued
– one of the most complex in North American history. Nearly two million
artifacts were brought to the surface. These spurred the birth of a beautiful
new museum of Texas history in Austin and were shared among seven other museums
across the state.

Today's explorers can visit
each collection in turn. You can step aboard a replica of La Belle, view
the skeleton of a French colonist, check out a swivel gun, and see how the
wonders of modern archeology bring the past to life.

And discover for yourself just how close Texas came to
being a French colony.